Author's note: This is the chapter where we will find out what Crane is planning to do to Tilly and Jack. I hope you're ready.
In a small room, Tilly and Jack were tied to chairs, facing the opposite sides, Scarecrow was there too. "Patient notes: Jackson Tilly. Age: 22. Gender: Female. Height: 5,4. Eye color: Brown. Associate of the infamous Van Der Linde gang."
"Subject 2: Marston Jack. Age: 4. Height: Currently, I don't know. The son of John Marston and Abigail Roberts. A very young associate of the Van der Linde gang. Wake up, Ms. Jackson, wake up. Inject her."
A nearby soldier injected a chemical into Tilly's arm, and she wakes up and comes face to face with Scarecrow. "I'm awake, you bastard." She growled. "Good, I was afraid my preferred interrogation would not be necessary. Do you know why you are here?" Crane asks. "You can go kiss a snake for all I care!" She spat at him. "And you should invest in some manners. Again, do you know why you are here?" He asks again. "I don't have to tell you anything!" Tilly growls at him. "Very well then. Guard kill the boy." The militia grabs a knife and advances toward Jack to kill him.
"No, wait, please!" Tilly begged. "I'll talk."
"Good." Scarecrow said. "I don't know how I ended up here, but the last thing I remember was a bad storm." She explained. "And your associates, the Van der Linde gang arrived too. I know all about them. I was counting on your appearance. " Tilly was a bit nervous now. "Why?" She asked in a small voice. Crane spoke. "Simple, to study you all and then destroy the gang. Originally, the man Dutch Van Der Linde knew for 6 months, Micah Bell, was going to rat you all out to the pinkertons at a point I won't talk about. Dutch went insane and started trusting only Micah, and they both ended up betraying the gang. But you have nothing to worry about now, because of that storm Micah stays in Strawberry to be hanged. And Dutch gets to keep his sanity."
Tilly couldn't believe it. Originally, Dutch would trust Micah out of all of them and betray everyone. But she was happy it won't happen now. "Next question." Crane interrupted her thoughts. "Do you know why I wear these syringes on my hand?" He asks. "Because you're insane?" Tilly says. "Not in the slightest. I usually disperse my toxin in an aerosol form. It is effective but not pure. However, when I deliver a concentrated dose directly into the bloodstream. The effects are beautiful." He finishes. "I'm going with insane." Tilly says. She did not understand a lot of this, but she knew enough that it was bad news. "Believe what you will. We shall see what you are truly afraid of." Crane fills his syringes with fear toxin and starts moving toward her to inject her. "Sir, I hate to interrupt your session, but it's time to go to Ace Chemicals." The soldier says. "Very well, prepare the helicopters, and tell the Knight it's time." Scarecrow starts moving toward the exit. "And bring some guards in here. Keep them in check."
"Yes, sir." The soldier said, and both men leave the room. Leaving the hostages alone until more guards come.
Later
"We have to find them, now!" Arthur said. He, Dutch, and Batman had taken the others to GCPD, Gordon was not really happy to have a bunch of outlaws in the building but desperate times. "We don't know where they are, but we have to find where Scarecrow is producing his toxin. If we find out where it is, we'll find him and your friends." Batman said. "Fine." Arthur muttered. John wasn't entirely happy to be left at the precinct, Abigail was pissed off about it, but they reluctantly agreed. He and Dutch would help Batman in finding Jack and Tilly.
"How are we going to track Scarecrow's toxin." Dutch asked. "We have to go to the clock tower, but you 2 will have to remain outside." Batman says. "Why?" Arthur asked. "There are things that are none of your business." He concluded. "Fine." Dutch and Arthur said in unison. "But it will be a bit before we can get there." Dutch argued. "Not really." Batman presses a button on his gauntlet, and the trio hear rumbling, then the Batmobile showed up right in front of them. The cowboys were mesmerized by the sight of it. The cockpit opened up in the front, showing 3 seats. "Get in and don't touch anything." Batman said. The boys agreed, and they all hopped in.The batmobile's tires squealed on the road before it took off for the clocktower.
Later, they arrive at the clocktower. "Stay here. I'll be back." Batman said as he hopped out, e pulled out a gun looking thing, aimed it at a gargoyle, and fired and was lifted into the air, out of sight. "Please hurry, Batman." Dutch whispered.
Meanwhile, Batman had reached the top of the building. He pressed a button on his gauntlet, and the shingles in front of him slid open, and he hopped into the building. Batman approaches a head statue, he pushes the head back, revealing a scanner, it scans him. "Identity confirmed." The Batcomputure spoke as the clocktower transformed into a small headquarters, a blue glowing keyboard appears from the floor. Batman approaches it and starts studying the fear toxin sample he got earlier. Then Batman's assistant, Oracle, appeared. "Do I come in the batcave, start messing with all your stuff?" The crippled woman pushes her wheelchair over to Bruce.
"You've managed to reduce the compound to its core elements." He said, amazed. "But there's nothing in there that we can trace." Oracle says sadly. "What if we've been looking at this the wrong way. What if instead of searching for the toxin, we focus on the manufacturing process." Bruce punches a key, and the screen changes. "Why didn't I see this? The reaction emmitts a unique radiation spike." Barbara says. "Run a scan of the city for this energy signature. It'll show where Scarecrow is creating his fear toxin." Batman says.
"It will take a few hours to bring the satellites into position." Oracle says. "We don't have enough time, I'll repurpose the antenna at the movie studios." Batman replies. He starts walking away, but Oracle stops him. "Bruce, I spoke to dad. I hate lying to him. He'd kill if he knew I was still in the city. He still blames himself for this." She faces him. "We'll stop Scarecrow." Bruce reassures her. He approaches the opening in the ceiling and grapples up to the roof. He touches his gauntlet, and a projection of Gordon appears. "Jim, we've got a way to find out where Crane's working from." He spoke to the commisioner .
"Thank God. What can I do?" Gordon asks. Get your men ready. As soon as we've got a location, I'll let you know." Batman says. "And are the Van Der Linde gang behaving."
"Yeah, so far. But Abigail's pissed off about her son. John keeps muttering angrily, and Bill wants to go out there and help." Gordon says. "Leave a few men there. And don't worry, Jim. We'll stop Scarecrow." Batman hangs up then runs off the side and glides down to the batmobile, where Arthur and Dutch are waiting.
"You took your time." Dutch said, but Bruce ignored him. "We have to go to the Pannessa Studios and repurpose the antenna. It'll show where Scarecrow is making his fear toxin." Batman said. Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. The batmobile rockets toward the studios.
A few minutes later, the trio arrived. "Like last time, hold on, I'll be back." Batman leaves the batmobile again and grapples up to the generator to the antenna. He walks over to it and places a remote hacking device on the machine. The motor starts powering up, and Batman turns his attention to a covered box. He rips the cover off, showing the power switch. He flips it, but the generator sparks and shuts down. "The generators damaged, I'll need to bypass it and power the antenna directly." He thought, he pulled up Lucius Fox on his gauntlet. "Hello again, Mr. Wayne. How can I help you this time?" The old man asks.
"Is the power winch ready for deployment?" Batman asks. "It's 100% functional, though no guarantees if you're intending to pull that car of yours up the side of a building." Lucius replies. "You read my mind." Batman says. It's in the job description, Mr. Wayne. Batwings on its way." Lucius hangs up, and Batman runs and glides back to the batmobile. "We have to power the antenna directly." He told the gunslingers. "And how are you gonna do that?" Dutch asks. "I have my ways." Batman says, then the car moves forward and drives over to the destination point. Once they arrive, the batwing appears. "Stay calm. It won't hurt us." Bruce to the others. The batwing attaches something into the hood of the car, the Power Winch. The Batwing floats above a little while and then flies away.
"How do you plan on getting the car onto the roof?" Lucius asks into Batmans ear. "I'll improvise." He replies. "The winch needs a secure anchor point to function. Once it's attached, just hit reverse. And please be careful with the car, Mr. Wayne, she's one of a kind." Lucius hangs up. The batmobile enters its new tank mode, surprising Arthur and Dutch. Batman aims the Winch at an anchor attached to the side of the building in front of them. He fires away, and it attaches firmly, Lucius hasn't failed him just yet. The car starts pulling backward and slowly the obstruction blocking them breaks apart and falls onto the road below the cliff.
"You two might want to hold onto your seat belts." Bruce tells them as he backs up the car . He punches the pedal forward and activates the afterburner, anders they soar through the sky, landing on the roof, cracking the glass. There was another anchor on the frame in front of them, and Bruce did what he did before and used it to create a makeshift ramp. He slams the pedal down, and they rise then fall onto the second roof. He reenters tank mode and slowly drives along the roof until they land on solid concrete. Balls were blocking the way, but the batmobile just moved past them, knocking them down. They reach a triangle like part of the roof and move forward. On the studios' roof, there was a 3rd anchor point. It was secured to the wall. No way can they pull it down, but they can use it to go up. Batman fires the winch at it, and it secures itself properly. "Hold on." He tells the other 2
The batmobile moves forward until there was no more roof, and they fall onto the side with Dutch and Arthur screaming a little. The car moved up until there was a roof again, and then the winch disconnected from the anchor, they move to the left until they were in front of the generator. Bruce fires the winch yet again, this time sparking with energy, and a few moments later, the antenna glows and comes online, but the car remains charging it. Batman exits the car. "Oracle, I've restored power to the radio antenna." He spoke to the gauntlet. "Great, I'm connecting now." Barbara sighs. "I was just talking to Robin. I think you should too."
"Bruce, you need me out there. We can find Scarecrow faster together." Robin interrupts. The screen switches to him. "What you're working on is more important, Tim." Batman says. "It can wait 1 night. Let me help." He insists. "I've got this under control." Bruce says. "Okay. Listen, try checking in once in a while. We're partners, remember?" Tim says.
"He just wants to help, you know." Barbara comes back on. "Is the antenna ready?" He asks. "Yeah, but we're going to need a microwave tower to triangulate Scarecrow's location. There's one at Falcone Shipping in The Cauldron. I've marked it on your map." She hangs up.
Batman approaches the cockpit, and it opens. "We can't use the batmobile right now. We have to go to a microwave tower at Falcone Shipping Yard in order to triangulate Scarecrow's location." He says. "Fine, but we need to be quick." Dutch says as he and Arthur exit the car.
"So how do we get over there?" Arthur asks. "You both might want to hold onto me." Batman says. The gunslingers look at each other in confusion but grab onto Bruce anyway. He grabs his grapple. "Hold on."
They were suddenly off the ground and onto a rooftop away from the studios. They continued this until they reached the yard where the tower is, there was a control room under it. "D-Don't you ever do that ag-gain." Arthur stutters a little. Bruce ignored him, and they moved towards said control room.
But then they hear voices. Batman activated his detective mode and saw five orange glowing people and one blue glowing person tied to the floor inside. "Don't open that door. There are 5 soldiers. If we alert them, they'll kill the hostage. We need to draw them outside in order to take them down." Batman says. "You 2 hide yourselves while I draw them out."
"Okay, Arthur, hide yourself." Dutch says as he takes cover behind a weak wood wall. Soon, everyone is hidden as Batman is on a nearby gargoyle. He grabs a batarang and tosses it at the door. "Hey, did you hear that? Someone's out there. You 2, go take a look. The door stays locked. I'm taking no chances." The soldiers exit the room. Arthur saw 1 heading for his location. He'd have to be quick and quiet, or his buddy will hear him.
The militia was close enough, so Arthur waited until he turned his back, but he stayed there. Perfect. Arthur thought as he approached him. He smashes his fist into the back of his head, and he falls out cold. He turned and saw Dutch smash the handle of his Schofield Revolver into the second guy's head.
Batman appears in front of them. "There are still 3 more soldiers inside. They think they're safe if they stick together." Batman contacts lucius again. "Lucius, I've got a hostage situation. 3 gunmen. I need to take them all out before they can react. Is it ready." He asks. "Flexible plates over an MR fluid armor layer. You'll move faster, hit harder and look scarier while doing so." He said.
"Send it, Lucius. Now." Batman orders. "Already airborne, sir." The batwing appears again and it deploys a pod near the railing. "You 2 need to hide yourselves until I'm done." Batman tells the gunslingers. "Why." Dutch asks. "Because I said so." He spoke. Arthur and Dutch walk away, leaving Batman peace. He plants his hand on a scanner and the pod opens up revealing a better batsuit.
Soon it was done. "You 2 can come out now." Dutch and Arthur walk out of their hidey holes. "Like the new look." Dutch said. "You need to stay out here, I'll let you know when it's safe." Batman instructs them. They nod their heads in agreement. "3 soldiers, 1 hostage. Time to put this suit to the test." Bruce enters a vent grate leading inside the building. The militia were talking until Batman springs up, he hits the first soldier in the gut. he hits the second soldier in the jaw and he slams the 3rd into the wall. All militia were down.
Batman approaches the police hostage. "Man, they said you were fast but I've never seen anyone take out 3 armed guys like that. Unbelievable." He says. It's alright, you're safe. Bruce reassures him. "Tell me you're gonna find Scarecrow. That son of a bitch needs to be stopped!" The officer opens the doors and steps outside as Batman walked to the generator and placed another remote hacking device on it and the motor powers up as Batman flips the switch and it goes on. He contacts Oracle as he walks outside. "Oracle, I've attached the uplink to the microwave tower." He says. "Perfect, I've made an anonymous call to GCPD, they're gonna send someone to pick up the hostage. Come on come on connect... love the suit by the way. Alright, both towers are fully online." Oracle disappears. "Dutch, Arthur it's time to find Scarecrow." Batman grabs a remote controlled batarang and tosses it, and it flies above the city. The towers send signals to the batarang and they both point to Ace Chemicals. "Guys, the radio and microwave frequencies point to Ace Chemicals. That's where Scarecrow is producing his toxin." Batman tells them. Arthur sighs happily knowing that they are close to capturing Scarecrow.
"Jim, I've traced the fear toxin to Ace Chemicals. That's where we'll find Scarecrow." Batman speaks to Gordon. "Impossible, I've had a team there ever since the evacuation started, just like you asked." He says. "Crane must've bought them off... or worse." Bruce replies. "I'm in the area I'll round up my guys and head over." Jim says. "Hold off until we get there, Jim. We're on our way."
"Let's get to that place and make Scarecrow pay." Arthur says and the trio climb down the building before calling the batmobile, they enter and make their way to ACE Chemicals.
Author's note: Good lord I did not expect to create a chapter this long. Well time for chapter 6.
